>> brian: i'll buy one. >> gretchen: you wore yellow because you steal my pen. >> brian: steve wants to go contrast. if you have some time, i'll see you on "the five" later today. >> steve: larry sabato joins us tomorrow when we hope you do, too. see you then. bill: raucous crowd there this morning. fox news alert a surge in the polling puttings mitt romney on top in the race for the white house. "pew research poll"ing shows since the debate last week, mitt romney leaping ahead of president obama. what a swing that is, 49-45%. keep in mind that is likely voters too. you have to ask a few more questions to figure out whether you're registered voter or likely voter. likely voter polls are more accurate in the end. look who is back here. martha: hello, everybody. bill: celebrating columbus day. martha: i always do. thank goodness he discovered the country. good morning i'm martha maccallum.

mitt romney ahead of the president but wiping out the double digit lead with women voters. you remember what that used to be. bill: republican nominee continues to press on this issue, that's the economy. >> can we afford four more years like the last four years? he wants another stimulus. how did that first one work out? and then, he wants to pick winners and losers among companies, or losers in his case and then, of course he wants to hire more government workers. look, all of these things have not ignited our economy the way it should be ignited. we've seen the slowest recovery from a recession. bill: john roberts traveling with the campaign. live in vanmeter, iowa, that is west of des moines. what is happening there, john? >> reporter: good morning. governor romney will be talking agriculture today. not surprisingly we're on a 700 acre farm owned by the cook family. a lot of soybeans and corn

here. we're in madison county. governor romney won this in the caucuses by the way. he will argue the president's policies things like estate taxes, climate change, environmental regulations, energy policy are hurting farmers. he continues to go after the president on issue of jobs of the even though the unemployment number is down below the psych lodge call level at 8% on the stump in newport news, governor romney found a new way to use it. >> if you look back 60 years, at all the months we had unemployment before 8% before president obama. there were 39 months. in all 60 years with unemployment above 8%. under this president there have been 43 months. under one president alone. he does not understand what it takes to create a real recovery. i do. >> reporter: bill you mentioned the pew poll. the pew poll governor romney was seen as guy with new ideas.

he was the one people trust to create jobs. bill: one of the lingering numbers in the debate governor romney's honesty to cut federal spending. >> taking on big bird. bill: how is the obama team, responding that, going after it? >> governor romney was trying to make a point cutting unnecessary spending said. i like pbs i like big bird. i even like you, jim lehrer, but i don't think you need the subsidy. obama campaign, seized on that. the president used that as a rip line to ridicule governor romney across the country. this morning they have a new ad about it. >> bernie madoff, ken lay, dennis kozlowski, i will criminals gluttons of greed and evil genius towered over them. one man has the guts to speak his name. >> big bird. big bird, big bird. >> me, big bird. >> a menace to our economy. mitt romney knows it is not wall street you have to worry about. it is "sesame street".

>> reporter: that ad was out about couple hours, bringing out "sesame street"'s couldn't saying look at president obama has been talking about this. mentioned big bird eight times. elmo five times. zero mentions about libya and zero plans to fix the economy. this is going in a very interesting direction this morning. bill: back and forth we go. thank you, john. we'll follow the campaign stoplighter in iowa. martha: we'll talk about all that "sesame street" stuff later in the show. governor romney starting his day in the key battleground state of iowa. the state carries six electoral votes. later today, president romney and governor romney head to buckeye state. ohio has of course 18 electoral votes. bill: we all know ohio is important, right? especially for republican ledger. ohio has voted for winner in last eight presidential elections. no republican has ever won the white house without winning the buckeye state.

in 2008, the president beat john mccain by 300,000 votes in ohio. martha: in michigan, paul ryan got a bit fed up after getting grilled on gun violence. here is about the problem. >> does this country have a gun problem. >> this country has a crime problem. >> not a gun problem? >> no, if you look at gun laws i don't think even president obama is proposing more gun laws. we have good strong gun laws. >> not about gun laws. >> we have to enforce the laws. we have a lot of laws not properly enforced. we have to make sure we enforce the laws. best way to prevent violent crime in inner cities, bring opportunity to the inner cities. bring people out of poverty in the inner cities. teach people, good discipline. that is civil society, charities and civic groups and churches do to help one another make them realize they have value in one another. martha: that is when thing started to take a bit of a turn. gong man ryan ended

interview rather abruptly. after this exchange. follow the reporter pushes him on tax cuts. you can do all by cutting taxes with a big tax cut? >> ryan respond, those are your words, not mine. off-camara ryan's press secretary was heard, thank you very much, sir. that's when paul ryan begins removing his mic and leaving, adding quote, that was trying to strange you're stuffing words in people's minds. >> i don't know if it is strange. >> ryan fires backs sound like you're trying to put answers to questions. that's where it ended. the local michigan station pulled that part of the interview off the website. they said the time was up and everyone making big deal out of nothing. congressman ryan's team statement they issued. reporter was well over allotted time interview when he started to ask a weird question related to gun violence with tax cuts. ryan responded anyone would with a strange situation, when you do 200 interviews in couple months eventually you will see a local reporter embarass himself. that from the ryan campaign.

that is the back and forth. hope you're able to follow all that. be sure to follow us on thursday night for the first and only vice presidential debate between vice president joe biden and congressman paul ryan. coverage and analysis gets started at 8:55 eastern time. bill: i like your idea. do reenactment. give me the reporter. i'll be ryan. new survey of small businesses showing business owners are pessimistic about the near future. the future. the drop openings are dropping. charles payne with an explanation on that. good morning to you. >> good morning,. bill: what does the survey show? >> it was from the national federation of business. i wail give you the headlines. hiring plans plunge. small business optimism drops. there are 10 things they ask the small businesses about, the one that stood out the most that the fact that businesses are saying you know what? we are not going to hire. these are small businesses. one of the other things, the overall reading came in at recession levels.

which means that this report has been around for 26 years. 56 times it has been under this 93 level which they consider recession level. 32 of those times happened since the recovery. the recovery began. bill: what is going to get them novembering again? i'm looking at here a presidential race has to be decided. congress has to take a lot of action on numerous pieces of legislation. is that the holdup? >> that is the biggest, biggest hold up of them all. i've got to tell you i've been saying for a long time, war on business being waged with administration has less of impact on large businesses they have armies of lawyers. they have armies of accountants. they do business overseas. con with usly small businesses through it all do the overwhelming bulk of hiring but they're having trouble trying to navigate these waters. bill: are you in for varney today. >> i'm holding down for stuart. bill: look at you. good luck. see you on fbn. >> thanks, buddy.

martha: fox news alert a key american witness set to testify before a house committee tomorrow says the state department refused to send more security to libya despite requests from consulate staff there leading up to the terror attack on september 11th this year. doug mckelway joins me live in washington on this. doug, is this the first witness we're going to hear from here? >> reporter: the first witness actually gone on the record, not a anonymous source. a guy came forward to say security was denied there. he is lieutenant colonel andrew word, former head of a special forces team in libya. he told cbs news that his request for beefed up security was rejected in washington. the man who made the call to reject the extra security, undersecretary of state management, patrick kennedy who held the job since 2007. after the attack kennedy privately briefed house and senate staffers told them the attack appeared to be sophisticated involving light and heavy weapons.

four days after that briefing, u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice took to five different sunday talk shows to say it was not a planned attack. it was another three days after that, before any senior u.s. official publicly stated that the benghazi incident was indeed a terrorist attack. >> americans deserve the truth on what happened. and so i think what you're going to find is these bits and pieces are going to come out. again i think we're both troubled by some of the things we saw and unfold. >> reporter: the house oversight committee hearing on the benghazi attacks gets underway tomorrow at noon. a lot of people will be watching, martha. martha: there is sort of a drip, drip, drip effect to this story. and some lawmakers are still questioning what the administration itself knew before these attacks. >> reporter: you know congressman jason chaffetz of utah just returned from benghazi. early this morning on fox he pointed out some obvious warning signs that preceded the attack. >> twice in the lead-up to

their attack on 9/11, our compound in benghazi was bombed. twice the british ambassador had an assassination attempt. we were moving into 9/11. now the white house wants to say, well, we had no direct information or actionable intelligence. are you kidding me? >> reporter: representative mike rogers also tells fox u.s. obtained video footage of the attack while it was underway. be very having to see that, martha. martha: sure will. thank you very much. doug mckelway. south carolina republican congressman trey gowdy will be at the hearing tomorrow. he has been very outspoken on the benghazi issue. he joins us next hour at 10:30 eastern time. bill: we're just getting started today. troubling details on the meningitis outbreak. why new numbers show it could get a whole lot worse. we'll have that for you. martha: huge polls show a huge swing in governor romney's favor among a key voting bloc. is the tide starting to turn in his favor? bill: there is harsh criticism for the

president's foreign policy and governor romney saying that the president's leadership has failed. we'll talk about that with former new york city mayor rudy giuliani our guest, next. >> america's security and the cause of freedom can not afford four more years leak the last four years hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

martha: fox news alert for you on this tuesday morning. jerry sandusky will learn his fate any moment now. the sentencing for the former penn state assistant football coach is now underway. he is 68 years old. he faces hundreds of years in prison. an expected life sentence but he is still claiming his innocence in these cases, releasing this recorded state on the eve of his sentencing. >> why didn't we have a fair opportunity to prepare for trial? why have so many people suffered as a result of false allegations? what's the purpose? maybe it will help others.

some vulnerable children who could be abused might not be as a result of all the publicity. that would be nice but i'm not sure about it. martha: hmmm. proclaiming his innocence the former coach and at least some of his victims are planning to address the court today. of course we'll bring you that as soon as it cops in. as soon as the sentence is handed down. bill: breaking news on that. governor mitt romney delivering what his campaign called a major foreign policy speech in virginia. during that address he suggested that the president's leadership style has made the middle east more dangerous. >> the president is fond of saying that the tide of war is receding and i want to believe him as much as anyone else. but when we look at the middle east today, with iran closer than ever to nuclear weapons capability, with the conflict in syria threatening to destablize the reemg on. and with violent extremists on the march, and with an american ambassador and three others dead likely at

the hands of al qaeda affiliates. it is clear that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office. bill: there was a lot more in the speech. want to talk about it with former new york city mayor, rudy giuliani and a romney supporter. how are you, mr. mayor. >> i'm fine, bill. bill: what you think voters and viewers more importantly at the moment for the next two debates a clear distinction what governor romney's policies would be as commander-in-chief and as opposed to what the current policies are today. whether it's that speech yesterday or whether determined in debate number two or number three, how does he draw that clear distinction? >> the distinction is very clear. it is a difference in approach and a lot of specifics. president obama leads from behind. that's one of his people described it that way last year about libya and it is really, very, very dangerous. he put us in a very dangerous position by doing that. governor romney would lead by leading, by setting forth

what we'll do. by laying it out. asking other countries to follow us rather than we follow other countries like we followed france into libya. i think we're seeing the fruits of president obama's incompetence in foreign policy right now. i take it back to major hasan. and i warranted about this back then. bill: hasan was fort hood, texas. >> correct. a terrorist attack described, they, meaning the obama administration described as employee rain. that is just as absurd as their cover-up what happened in libya. the reality is when you close your eyes to what is going on you get attacked without recognizing you're getting at darked. we should never have been attacked in libya. the warnings were manifold. instead of increasing security we decreased security. it is quite possible the ambassador and other three americans didn't have to die if there was a competent reaction that wasn't controlled by political spin as owe posed to done very --. bill: that is interesting

you say that i wonder how often and clearly that comes up. what governor romney said repeatedly we're not shaping world events as a nation. what does he mean by that? >> what he means by that, you have the situation in libya. at first we weren't sure what we were going to do. bill: go back to mubarak. >> when mubarak was in trouble. that mubarak shouldn't be removed very quickly and should be done very carefully and slowly. four or five days we changed that. then we decided we were going to be part of it. we were part of it and didn't shape in such a way that we prevented an islamic government from taking over. now we have the islamic, muslim brotherhood running egypt a man wants release of a terrorist that bombed new york city, the blind sheikh. by following rather than leading we don't set events in the direction we want them to go. same thing in libya. bill: many have suggested it is because he is disengaged.

we'll come back to that point in a second here. but what critics say about the speech yesterday, it is lofty rhetoric and sound great but there are no specifics. >> there are specifics. there are enough as critics would like. reality that is what a presidential candidate does. take me back to a speech by president obama four years ago. anymore specific than that? or president bush or president kennedy or any of these people. or president reagan who i worked for. this is the way you give a speech in a presidential campaign. you set forth your general principles with couple examples. here is really good example that shows the difference. governor romney said he would have supported the iranian protesters when they were acting to try to do regime change in iran. president obama disgracefully turned their back on them. boy does that send a message. don't you think some of our problems in iran come about because the government of iran doesn't take president obama seriously, they're not afraid of them. backing protesters like

president reagan backed protesters in poland and the check republic would have been a strong difference in leading rather than following which is what president obama did. bill: in 15 seconds i have left, do your best. i know you're capable. come to the united nations general assembly and don't hold a single one-on-one with a foreign leader? >> it means you're putting politics ahead of governing. we haven't had a president last two months. this is campaigner-in-chief which may be some of the reasons for the table screw up and cover-up in libya. bill: we'll look for more on this in coming weeks and debate coming up in florida. always good to see you. >> you too, bill. martha: governor romney rides high on his debate win. how his win rates among the all-time high debate drubbings. bill: scenes from this, martha. what is this guy doing? he is pretty good. and he is an amateur.

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bill: hundreds of people working on final preparations for the one and only vice presidential debate in danville, kentucky. congressman paul ryan, vice president joe biden will square off on the center college campus on thursday. crews are nearly done building the set. planners expect thousands of people on site. folks on campus are very excited as you can imagine for this event. >> the campus has really been transformed. for security, for low gist call reasons. there is a lot of activity going on right now. >> we're anticipating 3200 credentialed media from 40 different countries including 600 foreign journalists. the atmosphere here has been

absolutely electric. bill: get up, danville. nice. we're your election headquarters. pregame, post-game, the entire game, thursday night with bret and megyn starting a tick before 9:00. 10 1/2 million last week. how many will we get this week? we'll see. martha: pressure on both of those folks, right? we have new details we want to share with you on this meningitis outbreak that has now hit 23 states. according to the centers for disease creel eight people have died from this infection so far. thousands could potentially be at risk. jonathan serrie joins us live from atlanta. jonathan, how many people do they think may have been exposed to this? >> reporter: hi, martha. well the cdc estimates as many as 13 thou people may have received injections from these particular shipments of potentially tainted back pain medication. the steroid was compounded by a specialty pharmacy in massachusetts and shipped to

23 states during the spring and summer. it was recalled on september 26. because fungal meningitis has incubation period of up to four weeks, in rare cases several months, there are likely additional infected people who won't show symptoms until late october and possibly a few who won't show symptoms until even later. some breaking developments. the tennessean newspaper in nashville is reporting a fifth debt in 10 -- tennessee, fifth meningitis death which would bring the total to nine. right now the official total is eight. we're waiting for federal health officials to confirm that. we're also awaiting a news conference from the tennessee department of health a little later today, martha. martha: jonathan, for people who may have had these injections how should they know if they need to be concerned? >> reporter: well in many cases the symptoms they might develop are flu-like.

in severe cases the symptoms can even mimic or follow a stroke. if you received these injections, and because of the long incubation period, dating back as far as may 21st, keep an eye on your health. if you develop even, just a fever or a worse inching headache, call your physician immediately. important to point out this form of meningitis is not transmitted from person-to-person. and so it concerns these people who received these steroid back pain injections during that time frame, ranging from may 21st to september 26, martha. martha: jonathan, thank you so much. jonathan serrie. bill: talk to marc siegel about this. siegel was great about this last week. so one man trying to fly where no man has flown before. skydiving from the edge of space. martha: look at that. bill: if all goes well we can watch it live. how cool is this world? martha: 10:00 they're saying now.

we'll keep an eye on that. governor romney gaining major ground with key voting group surging by 9% in just one month. so what this means for the race. tell me what you think about all these issues. send me a tweet @marthamaccallum. talking to steve hayes moments away. from local communities to local businesses. the potential of yelp unlocked.

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protesting the visit of german leader angela merkel trying to work out a debt deal for greece's long term financial issues potentially. spain has an issue too. their growth is expected to be negative for at least three years. good luck with all that. we'll watch the way it goes in athens. 9:30 here in new york. martha: back here at home there's a new poll that shows governor romney is surging among female voters since that strong performance on october 3rd in the presidential debate. let's take a look at the pew research numbers that came out. mitt romney and president obama tied in this key group. there is a look at the jump for governor romney. 38% to president obama's 56%, just a month ago, in september. but now he is at 47% and they are tied. see a commensurate drop in support for president obama in that one. stephen hayes, columnist for "the weekly standard" and fox news contributor. good morning, steve.

>> good earn moing, martha. martha: this is a remarkable move. >> it really is. not just that mitt romney is doing better with women. he is doing better among every single cohort. improved his standing on on issues relative to the president. this is one of the polls where if it indicates a broader trend and that is huge if, for governor romney's campaign this is certainly putting him in a position where he could finish this out strong and potentially win. martha: said you can't win without the women's vote. look at 2008 exit poll where clearly president obama had a commanding lead over john mccain, 56-43. in fact we looked into it. the last time a republican has won with this group of voters, it was george h.w. bush. and he just barely eked out a 1% lead over michael dukakis. this has been a difficult voting bloc with republicans. >> sure has been. i don't think the romney campaign has expectations of being even with the president among women voters

on election day. i think they would be thrilled to be within a handful of points because they can make gains elsewhere. if he is anywhere close to even, that is big win and i think likely means romney victory on november 6th. martha: you know, certainly would tend to substantiate the romney argument that women voters are just like other people. women are just like other people, news flash and they are interested in the economy and when you look at, you know the folks that were out there during the democratic convention, sandra flush and a lot of -- fluke, specific issues on abortion and like, it would appear after this last debate we know what resonates more solidly with women? >> i think that is exactly right. all along we looked at the election may have started out with a referendum on president obama's policies. involves a choice election. two competing alternative visions about the size and shape of role of government in american lives. what governor romney did so effectively in the debate

last week was lay out that plausible alternative case in a way and in a forum where many millions of voters were watching him do that. so he made himself a plausible candidate. he laid out an alternative argument. he wasn't just saying the president hasn't done a good job. he was saying the president hasn't done a good job and these are very specific things i will do differently. that has appeal to women, men, you name it. martha: he had his message in a real, relaxed way than he has in the past. there could be argument that also resonated with female voters. let's take a look at something else. you mentioned this look at moderate voters in a piece that you wrote. and here's the moderate voter position. 49 for president obama. 39 for governor romney. you make an interesting point about this. >> yeah. i just find it an absolutely fascinating finding inside a poll that find governor romney leading president obama. 49%, nearly half of those likely voters surveyed think

president obama is more moderate than mitt romney. i think by any objective measure that is simply not true. if you look the way president obama has governed both before the 2010 midterms and particularly after the 2010 midterms when he did nothing to moderate his positions. he did not do a bill clinton style shift toe the center where he tried to triangulate. he has been proud, rather aggressive liberal both the way he governed since the 2010 midterms and in his campaigning. and i think the romney campaign and rnc have an ad out right now calling president obama a liberal. identifying him as such for voters which makes voters jobs a little bit easier. this is opening for romney campaign to continue to make that point and tie his policies with that idealogical label. martha: steve, they will be both out in force in ohio over the course of this week. rob portman will be campaigning with mitt romney as will chris christie. talk to me about the tightening in ohio. >> ohio, it is, isn't too

much to say ohio is crucial obviously. if you look at the polls i think there was a sense both in public polling and internal polling for the campaigns that ohio was slipping away from republicans in a state that they need to win. now seems there is some tightening. there was a poll out in michigan last night shows president obama only up three points there. if president obama is only up three points in michigan and that's a good poll, it's likely that ohio is back to a dead-heat which insures that continue to be competitive through november 6. martha: this is why we find it so fascinating. everybody was convinced debates don't move the needle that much in the end. >> this one sure did. martha: a historic move and debate political scientists will look back on for years to come. steve, thank you so much. we'll see you soon. >> thanks, martha. martha: okay. bill: sad note now. that border agent shot in the line of duty near the arizona-mexican border has been laid to rest. 30-year-old nicholas ivie was killed while responding to an alarm aimed at

detecting drug smugglers and illegal immigrants. his funeral service broadcast in several mormon meeting houses across southern arizona. >> the sunday before nick died he stood here, nick stood here for the first time and conducted the services as he was asked. >> is an issue of great issue. the fact is their son has been lost and he was performing his duty and died in the performance of that duty doing what he was trained to do. bill: ivie leaves behind a wife and two young children. the fbi saying he and another agent who survived by the way were shot by friendly fire. martha: all right. moving onto this story in politics again. the potential new scandal

that is facing the obama campaign. why a government watchdog is now saying that president obama may have accepted some illegal donations. big cover story in the mainstream press on this. we'll detail. bill: you just mentioned this. governor romney's debate win wasn't big, it was historic. we'll tell you about new polls that prove that. with three more debates to go we have must-see tv ahead of us, america. bob and andrea are on deck right after this music: "make"" music: "make someone happy" ♪it's so important to make someone happy.♪ it's so important to make meone happy.♪ ♪make just one heart to heart you - you sing to♪ ♪one smile that cheers you ♪one face that lights when it nears you.♪

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martha: well a stunning surge in gas prices across california. right now the statewide average is at $4.67 but in some parts of san diego prices already soared to nearly $6 a gallon? that is big. that takes a huge to of course on drivers.

>> what else do we have to do? we have to fill up the tank. we don't have an alternative. we are stuck as a small business. the business can't afford to keep raising its prices. so we have to eat it but that means we have to lay somebody off maybe. it doesn't look good for anybody. martha: all economic fallout down the line there of course. prices are so shocking that democratic senator dianne feinstein is calling for a federal investigation. >> i think we need to look at all things. look, i'm a native calfornian. i have never seen gas prices as they are today. and i see no respectable market answer for those. martha: well, yeah she has been around for a long time and watching this story. she wants some answers now for the second time around. in the past analysts have blamed federal regulations and more expensive gasoline blends. but feinstein says those answers are not good enough for her. bill: neither for the folks paying the prices, right?

new "gallup poll" shows governor romney's debate win wasn't just big, it was historic. 72% of registered voters say governor romney won the debate. only 22% say the president did a better job. that is 52% difference according to gallup. it has never been that large before. bob beckel, former democratic campaign manager and andrea tanteros, both co-hosts "the five". >> that is all obama's fault. bill: simmer now. are you good? got yourself together? >> sure. bill: andrea, you have to go back to 1992 to find results that were even close and even then they did not top. how does this change the game you believe? >> i think it tightened in four key states that obama had a pretty significant lead in over last couple of weeks. i already hear you sighing bob, hold on and hold your

heaving and grumbling for one minute. he tightened the lead in colorado, wisconsin, virginia and the key state, your home state, billy, of ohio. i think that is really important. he also increased the intensity gap. i believe he has a real chance because of three things. threeis i like to call them. one being intensity, which gallup in same poll widened to 13 points. that means republicans are more passionate and more enthusiastic than democrats. also, independents. romney has held a consistent lead with this critical voting bloc that obama captured by eight points in 2008. and the last is incomplete. that is still where we saw the job numbers not as great as they could have been on the economy. i remember college, i'm sure you remember it too. incomplete means failing grade. bill: you don't get it. bob was snoozing there. >> no, no. >> he was sighing. >> i didn't know you were from ohio. that explains it. bill: thank you. >> you're welcome. bill: i take that with pride. >> please do. bill: bob is about to make the argument, andrea, none

of this matters. because momentum will fade. mr. beckel. >> of course it matters. why are you putting words in my mouth. call this election over and give it to romney. bill: like convention bounces momentum will fade. those aren't my words. >> those are my words in my preinterview which i had to do for you to have the stuff to ask, right on. >> let me put it this way. romney had a terrific night. obama mailed it in on obviously. when andrea talks about intensity, quite true. romney did stir up his base. now democrats raised $152 million in one month. a lot last week. they know they're in trouble. intensity will increase. number two, election were held today, obama would still win and bounce for romney would fade. three, obama had expectations were so high, romney's was so low, no way obama would win that anyway even if he had a good night.

now it is reversed. bill: to a degree i think you're right. >> let me finish my thought. bill: no, go ahead. i have to see you in the hallway. >> please, go right ahead. bill: romney, and obama go next week. but thursday night is ryan and biden. now, i don't know. this could be a cage match, tanteros. i mean, biden taken six days of the trail. he is in some undisclosed location east of the chesapeake bay. what is your expectation for thursday night? >> they have him muzzled like hannibal lecter with the mask on so he doesn't say anything silly. this will be bigger heated debate than three of us have every tuesday. pressure is on. unlike what bob is saying on this point, you heard him on "the five" debates don't matter. debates don't matter. he has been wrong. they will look to thursday night interested to see ryan will do. he is untested. bill: yes. >> he is so disciplined, bill.

even though they will try to tie ryan i believe and romney together as much much as they can the ryan plan, ryan is such expert explaining it. that's what romney did so well last week. he explained his positions finally, so well when you're presented with facts all the obama campaign is left to do is just throw mud and call him a liar. >> facts. are you kidding? first of all when ryan is disciplined, talks some minute next sales plummet. hear is the point. obama didn't go after romney on facts. what is your tax deductions you're talking about. he didn't say because he won't have any. biden will go after ryan their policy gay and get down to it. this will be like a cage match. biden will beat this guy like an empty drum. ryan is looking more like howdy doody every day. >> if romney was lying, rye romney lying so much why didn't the pet call him out. >> that is the point, andrea

and he didn't. >> he couldn't. he couldn't argue facts. >> 9:00 a.m. on the 9th of october. roll this tape back on friday morning. >> we should do that. i just can't wait. >> by the way bob has been so grumpy lately, bill. >> i'm not grumpy at all. just because i'm not yelling at you that means i'm grumpy. >> you've been grumpy ever since the debate. >> you haven't seen me since the debate. >> you were really grumpy this mor, i did not. i had a good date last night. >> more on that later. bill: foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. hemmer@foxnews.com or at bill himmer bya. because you asked. bob's date apparently needs more disclosure. martha: talk to him in the hall about that. dieting and losing weight which tends to make people

grumpy. bob, keep it up. we have new reaction on governor romney's address calling out president obama on lack of leadership overseas. why charles krauthamer sees it that way, and why romney proved the president is quote, uncomfortable with america's preemdmens. bill: a jaw dropping video. have you seen this? are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy,

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bill: video of the day. check it out. dozens seriously injured as you watch this during a bullfighting festival in colombia. check this out. flipping off their feet in front of bulls. look at that. that is a summer suit over the top of a massive animal. a several people in the hospital. bullfight festival held in honor of the virgin of mercedes in colombia. that guy has guts. martha: don't try that at home. police in colorado are

expanding their search for a missing little girl. it has been four days since 10-year-old jessica ridgeway vanished in broad daylight. more than 800 volunteers are helping in the search. alicia acuna joins us live from westminster. alicia, any new information on this morning? >> hi, martha. we received an update not too long ago. westminster police say they have found some it he is, the biggest piece of evidence they have so far is still that backpack that was found six miles from her home. the last place where jessica was seen and the place where her mother emerged yesterday evening. jessica ridgeway's neighborhood was searched yet again. fbi agents along with 12 other agencies have been going door-to-door searching backyards and vehicles. neighbors have been requested repeatedly but so far no sign of the 10-year-old girl. >> like i said, she could have walked past me and i wouldn't have known anything, you know. but as far as push shuns go, i haven't seen anything whatsoever. i only know the community has been helping this lady.

>> reporter: neighbors do say they understand the suspicion with all of this. back to you. martha: what is the focus today on this, alicia? >> reporter: martha, investigators will now go back to the area where jessica lived, continue to go room to room in the neighbors homes as well. police were asked if their family members, if her family members have taken polygraph tests something they said was not a focus of the investigation at this point. additionally cop did say the family is cooperating. they're treating this as an abduction, not a run away situation. police are asked to be on the lookout and the 10-year-old little girl has a gap between the two front teeth and a sore on the bridge of her nose. they will be releasing home video later today. martha? martha: thank you. we wish them luck in that search. bill: we do. there are serious questions about the money raised by the obama team and whether or not overseas money is influencing an american election. fed up and looking for answers. the map in charge of security in our embassy and

consulate in benghazi set to face a congressional committee. >> the security personnel requested more personnel, not only was that denied but they have reduced the number of people we had on the ground. when they asked for improvements to the physical facilities to protect the infrastructure, to protect the perimeter, those too were denied [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?

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martha: what do we know about how the website works. >> the government accountability institute took a look at how the president's website handles security and says the area for donations fails the most basic security tests. this is how they explain. >> it's a little digit right here that you have to interput if you go to amazon or anywhere else. or if it's a visa it's on the back side of the car. if you don't input your transaction will not go through. some campaigns require that, many of them don't. the problem is this is a basic antifraud tool that literally you have federal candidates not using, which means that fraudulent donations are much more likely to be getting in. >> reporter: there is tighter security when you sign in on the president's campaign site to buy a t-shirt than a separate area used to make a donation. they say the lax security is pretty easy to fix. >> there is one click you need

to do. the congress or president can click that. with one click we can make every transaction online and you can see every transaction. there is no question where this money comes from. one click it's all taken care of. >> reporter: the main concern raised by this group is that the president is such a good campaign fund-raiser and that his campaign uses a lot of social media and reaches all across the world. the worry is that foreign donors and ineligible donors can donate at this less than secure website and the information is not available anywhere for it to be inspected, martha. martha: the big question is, is there any answer from the obama administration. >> reporter: they are tackling this head on. they say this is all about politics. ofa does not accept donations from foreign nat nations or any ineligible individual.

and the campaign voluntarily goes above and beyond federal election commitments to insure the integrity of fundraising efforts. they request proof of current and a valid u.s. passport. they say it's in order to comply with all federal election laws. martha,. martha: certainly at order odds with that report. thank you very much. bill: fox news alert right now. because there is new evidence we can report that the white house knew the attack on your consulate in benghazi was the work of terrorists long before admitting it to the american people. fox news learning that a top aid to the secretary of state hillary clinton, patrick kennedy is his name briefed congressional aids the day after the attack, september 12th calling it sophisticated and complex. u.s. ambassador chris stevens among four americans killed in the attack on 9/11. a hearing on what happened in benghazi scheduled for the hill

tomorrow. we will talk this morning to one of the congressmen who will ask the questions at that hearing. south carolina congressman tr erbs y gowdy is coming up in about 25 minutes. stay tuned for that. martha: this is interesting this morning, it's an ominous warning that comes from cbs news correspondent lara logan. she is voicing her concern about come place sans see in the battle between the taliban and al-qaida. she says think are a poor, gentler kindler taliban. it is just nonsense when it comes to the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. she called for exact revenge and let the world know that the united states will not be attacked on its own soil, that its ambassadors will not be murdered and that the united states will not standby and do nothing about it. very strong comments from that

zoned war correspondent. she made those comments at at an event in chicago. bill: nato has a plan to protect turkey as it rages in syria. leland vittert is live in jerusalem watching all this as the violence with turkey, is it getting better or worse or worse, leland. >> reporter: it's about the same. the syrian syrians send a shell over, the turks respond with a an artillery barrage. this is day six or seven of this and it's very concerning. the turks are beginning to amass men, equipment, f-16's are goi

going. they don't thing things are going to get worse and nato is there to defend. second of all it cuts to the syrians as a warning. remember the west has been loathe in order to try to military intervene in syria. if a war breaks out between turkey and syria it's very clear the gloves will come off. bill. bill: there is a bombing in damascus, how significant was it this time? >> reporter: another very big bombing is coming from the al-qaida off shoots operating inside syria. it shows how many foreign fighters are coming into the country, inside syria, these are hard-core jihaddists organizing car bombs against some of the syrian leadership places and have to have a lot of so figures indication to do it. these fighters are from libya, and iraq who are seasoned

jihaddists. if bashar al-assad leaves you have a continuing civil war between the local rebels who want democracy and the jihaddists who want an islamist state. bill: leland vittert live. martha: $716 billion question. governor romney's campaign has said repeatedly that the president plans to cut $716 billion from medicare. >> medicare for current retirees, he's cutting $716 billion from the program. now he says by not over paying hospitals and proceed sraoeursd, actuallproviders. going to hem them and saying we're going to reduce the rates across the board. that is not cutting the rates where there is abuse that's just cutting the rates. >> the obama campaign claims that is not through.

jim angle is live from washington to help us court it all out. >> reporter: as you showed, martha, governor romney insists the president cut 716 billion from medicare while the president argues he saved 716 billion east said during the debate. >> $716 billion we were able to save from the medicare program by no longer over paying insurance companies, by making sure that we weren't over paying providers. >> reporter: others, however, say they are not savings, they are cuts to medicare that shortchange providers such as doctors and hospitals. >> when you pay a provider of a service much, much less than they actually need to cover their costs, many of them will stop supplying it. >> reporter: now that is theentn wear reese at medicare that showed the 716 billions would reduce payments so much that medicare would be worth less to doctors than medicaid healthcare

for the poor drawing this comment during the debate. >> 15% of hospitals and nursing homes say they won't take any more medicare patients under that scenario. we also have 50% of doctors who say they won't take any medicare patients. >> so the senior citizen will be less desirable than the welfare mother to doctor. they are going to find long waits for care and find it difficult to find facilities to admit them. martha: it would have a major impact on seniors, which are typically a very reliable and strong voting block, jim. >> reporter: exactly, that's why the obama campaign minimizes the impact, listen. >> you know what those kurts, it'cuts are? it's taking cuts away from insurance companies. >> reporter: medicare advantage is run by those very insurance companies, though the president plans huge cuts in the program,

right now he's giving them bonuses. >> keep the enrollment up and keep the seniors happy at least through this election. then the cuts will start. >> reporter: mr. obama also by the way applies the 716 billion to offset the cost of obamacare making it look much less expensive than it otherwise would. martha. martha: interesting. all right. thank you so much, jim. jim angle. bill: a little bit of context now in medicare in 2011 it covered $70.2 million. in 2013 more expected to depend on the program rising to 52 million in this country. martha: governor romney slamming the president's foreign policy saying the country has suffered in this is opinion from a lack of leadership. while charles krauthammer showed the president, quote is

uncomfortable with american pre immanence. we'll talk about that with john bolton coming up. bill: developments in the murder of an american jet skier on the border of mexico. do we now know how he died? >> i want to know, what does he have to do with david's murder? [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

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bill: just an update on the breaking news we brought you last hour. police in athens greece forced to use teargas on a crowd of thousands protesting the visit of angela merkel. 50,000 demonstrators gathered in athens angry with angela merkel. at least 40 detained by police so far. greece must pass even more austerity measures over the next 24 months, including more pension and salary deductions in order to get the bailout they are looking for. martha: to governor romney's foreign policy speech yesterday

at the virginia military institute. political pundit charles krauthammer argues he was not laying out a comprehensive policy, he was more painting a big picture about his vision of wher. >> the point was it was subtle. it was the theme of the whole speech. obama is uncomfortable with the presence, the rightness, the justice, the use of america pre immanence in the region and he will reassert it with a sense of america's rightness, and thus, the specifics will follow. martha: joining me now to discuss john bolton, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and a fox news contributor. good morning, good to have you with us today. >> good morning, glad to be with you. >> i want to start by playing one piece of sound from that

speech at vmi yesterday and we'll go from there. >> america must have confidence in our cause, clarity in our purpose, and resolve in our might. no friend of america will question our commitment to support them. no enemy that attacks america will question our resolve to defeat them. no one anywhere friend or foe will doubt america's capability to back up our words. martha: ambassador do you agree with charles krauthammer in terms of what mitt romney's goal was yesterday with that speech? >> i think governor romney was trying to convey that his foreign policy will rest on essentially the same views as ronald reagan's, that the way you achieve america's objectives in the world without unnecessary conflict is by dealing from a position of strength. this is a so-called peace through strength doctrine. i think what charles was saying is that obama has a very different view, that for obama

it's america's strength that is provocative, that our presence in the world is what causes other people to behave badly to us, and that if we were less in the world, less assertive that things would be better. gene fits path strike called it the blame america first view and i think that's quite descriptive of how obama sees our place in the world. martha: when you look at iran, which i think most people accept as the most dangerous threat to the middle east, and to israel, certainly, that is out there right now, how do you think governor romney would handle that differently? it's a very difficult situation. >> i think he's trying to convey that after three and a half years, that the obama administration has donnie sepb tim donaghy essentially nothing to slow iran's progress at nuclear weapons down.

diplomacy is not going to succeed in chitchatting it out of its program and the sanctions have had no effect. in the past couple of days the imf projects iran's economy will be back on track next year and yet its nuclear arms program is very close to tpraou which is. when you say it's unacceptable for iran to have nuclear weapons, after three and a half years of doing nothing about it obama's assertions don't have any credibility. but a position based on american strength i think should have credibilityment. martha: of course, you know we know from what governor romney has said in the past that means having a very strong military and really sort of embracing the role of america as the super power in this global situation. we are going to get more specific no doubt when we head into the foreign policy debates that are coming up. there will be foreign policy questions at the vp debate, as well as in the next presidential debate, and no doubt there will be a moment when president obama will say to governor romney,

look, i've been there, i've sat in that oval office, and make the charge that he does not have any experience in this ra realm. >> he may try that. the motto on president obama's desk is the buck doesn't stop here, maybe it stops somewhere else. maybe it stops on george bush's desk, or the producer of the mohammed video. there is never a situation where he's prepared to take hard decisions, with a few exceptions, the killing of osama bin laden, although that is a decision that 99% of the american people would have made. the president doesn't focus enough on national security. i think our adversaries under are understand that he is a weak and inattentive president, and the scope and challenges that we will face in a second obama term will be much greater. martha: the events in libya have put this uppermost in people's mind. it will be interesting to see how the debates go.

good to have you, sir. >> thank you. bill: another death linked to the fungal meningitis outbreak. this comes as doctors warn the number of cases could soon take a big jump. marc siegl is on that in a moment. martha: a big turn, look at these two guys. bill: oh. martha: the obama campaign is out with a new ad hitting governor romney on all things with big bird. is this where we are now the battle of the sesame street characters? look at the count, what a great guy. he taught me to count. >> glad to be the way i am, glad to be the way i am, i'm happy to be me. ♪ and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy --

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martha: we are getting reports that israel is deploying u.s. made patriot missiles.

this comes days after israeli fighter jets shot down an enemy drone. no word on who was responsible for that unmanned aircraft that flew deep inside israel's air space. they are reportedly on a mountain overlooking lebanon. that suggests that military commanders are concerned that hezbollah may have been who sent that drone. bill: watch that story. new details now on the deadly meningitis outbreak. the cdc confirming at least eight people have died across the country. here is a look at the map for the states reporting this. health officials now reviewing deaths not previously linked to the outbreak. the new numbers expected to come out later today. dr. marc siegl is with us now, member of the fox news medical a team, professor of medicine at lango medical center. good morning. you just spoke to the c dc. >> i spoke to a senior official at the cdc that wants to make the point that this particular meningitis can be there for several weeks before you can actually get sick from it. we don't know, it's virgin

terrain. normally, bill, you don't get meningitis this day. a fungus is in the air, it's in the soil, the water, you don't get sick from it. the idea of getting it from an injection is not something that we are familiar with this. so the cdc is being vigilant. bill: i got you. this is fungal meningitis. >> correct. bill: right. and it was transported in the combination of the medicine combination from a compounding location in framingham, massachusetts. do we know that is the source. >> they have confirmed that is the source. the new england compounding pharmacy. they are closed down not making any more of this product right now. what it's about now, the steroid itself comes from the manufacturer very much supervised by the fda, it gets to the compounding pharmacy and then they turn around and make the vials that you then see when somebody is giving you a back or

neck injection. the fda does not have jurisdiction over the middleman, this compounding pharmacy because federal law has not given them that kind of jurisdiction. i personally believe they should have it, and they should be in there. bill: i got it. okay. mark, thank you. more on this in a little bit. breaking news we want to get to. let us know about the numbers this afternoon. martha: we are waiting for the sentencing for jerry sandusky. he was sentenced to multiple, multiple counts of abusing young boys under his tootilage as a coach at penn state and after that. david miller is live outside the courthouse with the breaking news on this. >> reporter: court just ended moments ago. the bottom line here the judge is sentencing jerry sandusky to a minimum of 30 years behind bars. the judge essentially said, this will amount to a life sentence for a man who is 68 years old. he was sentenced to a maximum of

60 years. he was you might recall, on june 22nd of 45 counts. during the sentencing this morning we heard from jerry sandusky, he spoke for about 15 minutes. he basically, again, repeated that he is innocent, he told the court, and i quote, i did not commit these, what he referred to as disgusting acts. he then went onto describe the difficulty of spending his 42nd wedding anniversary at the county jail. he then went onto thank his friends and his family. he is now in the midst of preparing an appeal according to his attorneys. martha: one second, these are live pictures of jerry sandusky, i'm just being told as he was brought out and is being put into the back of a car, and that maybe the last time that most of us see jerry sandusky ever out in the light of day. david lee, go on. >> reporter: that's right. you bring up a very good point. if you look at those pictures of

jerry sandusky, martha, this is a very different jerry sandusky than the one we saw during trial who was dressed each day in a sport coat who was spurbging througsmurking through most of the trial. he had on a bright orange jumpsuit. he lost a lot of weight. he was playing with his fingers at some point during the victims' impact statements. he expressed little emotion when he was speaking when he said he did not commit these horrible acts e did raise his voice. this is not the last we will have heard from jerry sandusky. in the legal sense it is almost certain there is going to be an appeal. he says simply he didn't get a fair trial. martha: any reaction from him when the sentence was read or from his family? we know there were a lot of family and friend in the courtroom. >> reporter: there was no reaction to the actual sentence from the judge. the defendant, jerry sandusky was facing the judge, those in the courtroom like myself could

only see his back. but when he sat back down in the defendant's chair he was stoic, no emotion. occasionally, though, we could see his wife, dottie, crying. it did appear interestingly that throughout the proceedings, martha she was also chewing gum. but there were a number of tears. martha: david lee, thank you very much. bill: breaking news from penn state there. what happened in libya? and could the murder of four americans have been prevented? that is what will be on the line this week when a house hearing gets underway at this hour tomorrow. we will talk to a congress pwhapb who icongressman who is asking some of those questions. republican trey gowdy, he's on deck. martha: how would you like to have that vantage point on the big jump? we under about an hour away now from the 23-mile plunge that felix baumgartner expects to steak from outer space. bill: and he's wearing a

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bill: just past 10:30 in new york now. the first congressional hearing on the deadly attack on our consulate in libya, that will be held tomorrow by the house oversight committee. the ambush on september 11th

killed four americans, including our ambassador chris stevens. republican lawmakers demanding answers from the state department as new details emerge on several requests before the attack for more security. trey gowdy, a republican out of south carolina, member of the house oversight and government reform committee and the house judiciary committee. sir, good morning to you. i know you'll be asking questions at this hearing tomorrow. what do you want to know, sir in. >> good morning, bill. the first thing i would ask, i want you to imagine the scenario, you're at home and you call 911, not only do the police not respond, they actually withdraw the patrol cars that are in your neighborhood. there were repeated requests for more security in libya, not only did they not get more security, they didn't even get the status quo. they got a decrease. so, mychal league jason chaffetz, just returned to libya. i understand he'll take the lead on this questioning.

i want to know why post event that susan rice was the last person in america to know that this was not a spontaneous incident. this was preplanned, premeditated. she went on five different talk shows and stated in fact that it was spontaneous, when in fact it was not. so i'm going to focus my line of questioning on that. jason chaffetz and others will focus on the fact that she's requests were denied. >> this is lieutenant andrew wood. he's done two interviews, abc and cbs. this is now he described the request for security on cbs. >> he was constantly concerned about the threats to not just himself but to the entire staff there. >> was there what you saw as a visible security drawdown during the period of time you were in libya? >> yes, it began just shortly after i arrived. there was pressure to reduce the number of security people there. >> pressure from where? >> um, higher headquarters at the state department.

bill: that from cbs news. perhaps we'll hear more of that tomorrow. this is what the state department is going to say. it's going to say that even after that team left in august, there was an equal number of people who replaced them with the same skill sets. and it will also say that the security support team would have been in tripoli and not in benghazi some one thousand miles away. does that matter to you? how do you factor that into this equation trying to understand this? >> well there is nothing quite like putting people under oath to get better responses, so we'll see who shows up from the state department. this much i know, the british ambassador was targeted twice. our consulate in benghazi was attacked twice. we requested more guns, more support, we didn't even get the status quo, we got less. the other question to ask, bill, is why was the state department so intent on creating the appearance that everything was going swimmingly in libya, that things had been normalized when this reality that was not the

case? again, i'm going to focus on why the state department ignored the obvious in libya, why they misled the american people shortly after the attack. the gentleman that you just played the video from i believe is going to testify tomorrow. bill: that's right. >> and i look forward to asking him some questions. bill: here is another thing we're trying to piece together here. you mentioned susan rice who went on five different talk shows on a sunday five days after the assault was reported. but apparently according to james rosen out of our washington bureau, on the night of september 12th, now, so this is 24 hours after stevens and three others are dead, he had a briefing with members on capitol hill and talked about the strong appearance that this was the result of a terrorist attack. so that was about five days before the interviews with susan rice. havhow do you then piece that together in trying to understand who was walk talking to whom at

the administration in. >> i think you're referring to the undersecretary of state patrick kennedy. bill: that's right. >> who shortly after this attack, within hours said that it was preplanned and premeditated. then the ambassador to the united nations goes on as you say five talk shows to say that this was a spontaneous reaction to a video. jason chaffetz just got back from libya. not one, single solitary person mentioned this video to him, not one in the entire time he was there. there was a rock that sat on the desk of a judge i used to work for that said the government speaks with one voice. this administration would do well to put that same rock on their desk. you can't have multiple explanations and just hope that one happens to be the truth, and we ignore the others. susan rice was either misinformed, which i'm inclined to give her the ben fifth the doubt or she intentionally misled, you, me and others and we are going to find out what happened starting tomorrow. bill: trey gowdy in south carolina, thank you for your

time. we'll be watching the hearing from here. >> thank you. martha: in the meantime, authorities in mexico say this a dangerous cartel leader accused of murdering and american tourist has now been captured. he is alphonso martinez escobedo the suspected leader of the most violent cartel in mexico. he's believed to be behind the murders of hundreds of people, including david hartley. he was killed back in 2010 while i was jetskiing with his wife on a lake that straddled the mexico-texas border. his wife tiffany hartley told authorities that armed men on boats chased them and shot her husband in the head. she says the arrest brings her some form of peace. >> i don't believe that he pulled the trigger, i believe it's probably he either said, yes, go ahead or he had something to do with the guys that that were behind it. that's what we're really looking

for is what is his link to david, and where -- does he know where david's body is, you know, does he know where the remains are? martha: i think she has always wanted to provide her and her family with some closure. his body was never found. bill: that with us a good mystery too for a longtime as to what happened out there on that lake. it straddles right in the border between the u.s. and mexico. 20 minutes before the hour now. martha we have dueling puppets. they are out there on the trail. big bird versus the count getting ready to stumble on sesame street actually showing newspaper campaign ads. we'll tell you what affect that is happening. martha: the romney campaign getting the rock star treatment at a rally in michigan and an endorsement from a big name. ♪ singing]

skwraot battl martha: the battle for pennsylvania avenue has moved to sesame street. the obama campaign has released a new ad based on governor romney's comments during the debate le refusing to borrow money from china to fund pbs. >> gluttons of greed and the evil genius who towered over them. one man has the guts to speak his name. >> big bird, big bird, big bird. >> it's me, big bird. martha: now the republican national committee has their own ad featuring one of my favorite characters, the count who is tallying up the amount of times that the president has mentioned big bird and elmo, while apparently not mentioning the economy, sister owe you see there for the economy and zero for libya. you've got 8 big birds and 5 mentions of elmo according to the romney campaign. joined by rich lowry the editor

of the national review and a fox news contributor. and marjorie tkhreuft ton former consultant to the obama campaign and ceo of clifton consultants. i never thought in my career that i'd be talking to you about this. but we are. rich, let me start with you. is that ad effective, first of all? it tkrepblgs up a lot o drudges up a lot of folks. >> no, i don't think they are. they are not going to run it on tv. it's on cable and online. look, big bird, it's time for big bird to get out of the federa federal nest. maybe he can't fly, he can walk. he doesn't need to be on the doyle. they make something like $50 million on merchandising every single year. with this show with all the beloved characters isn't

commercially viable then it should go out of business, but we shouldn't be spending almost half a billion dollars a year when we are $16 trillion in debt sending it to the corporation for public broadcasting. martha: the argument is that big bird is symbolic marjorie of the decision has need to be made in terms of what the federal government will spend money on and won't spend money on. >> the republicans of using the count again to taught how many times has he talked about the economy. the problem is i think the count might need an after school course in remedial math. obama has actually been talking about the economy every day since the debate, yesterday was talking about it in california when dedicating a monument to see archavez. maybe the count only counts it when he says tax cuts for the rich. i wish he would have been at the republican national convention when romney forgot to mention afghanistan or the troops. the count may be symbolic of a lack of mass and need for public funding for a lot of things like education.

martha: where does this go in terms of the debate? do you think president obama is wise to, you know, even continue to sort of put this issue out there, big bird, and put in it this ad? and does it make it look like easy sroeugd the more serious weighty top eugs of the day. >> it remind everyone of the debate which everyone agrees with us a disaster for him. it's really pathetic that he can do all these clever zingers and witty lines about sesame street, two or three days later after the debate when he's no longer on the stage and someone feeds them to him and loads them up into his teleprompter. two, more substantively this country is $16 trillion in debt. under the president's budget we'll be in about $25 trillion in debt in ten years and you're telling me we can't cut half a billion dollars to an enterprise that will be able to stand on its own through its own fundraising, it's ridiculous. martha: what about that marriage raoefplt it's 100th of 1% of

the federal budget the money that goes to pbs, but rich makes a good point. they make a ton of money off the big bird and sesame street stuff. i have a ton of it in my basement to prove it. is it time to cut them loose? >> i think the bigger point was, big bird was meant to be a mitt romney zinger talking about public funding. obama used it because it was the only actual talking point or specific that romney did mention about his economic plans. that's why they've run witness. you have to look at it in the last debate or election cycle i should say, joe the plumber is the only thing that i can remember. i mean it was joe the plumber this. joe the plumber that. and the republican national convention actually built their entire convention about something obama said about, you didn't build it. and taken out of context by the way. >> one of the reasons romney won the debate, everyone even agrees he won the debate is because he had so many details and specifics than the president. he ways able to actually think on his feet and debate in realtime and not be dependent on

a teleprompter two or three days later. martha: we have to leave it there. thank you marjorie, and rich, and big bird, and count. >> far more fun. >> jenna lee is standing by, "happening now" rolls your way in ten short minutes. what is happening. jenna: much more on the breaking news on the sentencing of jerry sandusky. judge napolitano will join us and bea in on all of this. kim strassel will join us, she has been particularly critical of the republican party and how it engages women voters. what does she think about the polls that show the gender gap is closing between mitt romney and women. sabr erat link, where should our focus be. speaking of big bird and all those other animals, are they animals? can you give your pet the flu, and can your pet give it to you. big questions this hour on "happening now."

bill: we'll let you experiment you get become to us. jenna: no way. bill: see how that works out. bad weather forcing a delay but a first jump from space is on apparently. it's a go, a break down of what you could see, and what this guy could see, because he's wearing cameras.

bill: get ready to see something you have never seen before. daredevil felix baumgartner is getting ready to take off on a supersonic skydive from 23 miles high and break the sound barrier on the way down. it's never been done before. corey powell "discovery magazine." good morning to you. i know you are knee deep into this stuff. you say the first action happens in the first 45 seconds in a 15

to 20 minute drop. what happens to the human body, when you're 23 miles up in altitude. >> it's like jumping off a cliff from orbit, not quite from orbit, from -- you can see the curvature of the earth, the sky is black, he does a little bunny jump, drops like a stone because there is almost no airy distance there. he goes into free fall, and in about 40, 45 seconds he will actually break the speed of sound. he'll hit 690 miles per hour, he'll become the fastest human being on earth. bill: holy cow. he's going to break the sound barrier through awful this. >> he's a ballistic missile. bill: he has oxygen, obviously, right? you said there is no air forcing his trajectory. he can get into one pose and drop that way. >> right, and that's part of where he's pushing the technology. he's going up in a capsule that is pressurized. you have a specialized space suit, it's pressurize. it has a sr-fl to equalize things. it's tkael cat balance. he needs enough pressure to keep

the oxygen so he can breathe but control the pressure so he doesn't go through decompression. bill: so long as all the tools hold up at that altitude and that amount of force too. you say on one level this is the ultimate, because i can. there were numerous firs on this. what are they. >> it's an incredible daredevil stunt. it's the highest man balloon jump, highest person without a spacecraft to break the sound barrier. he's chuck yaegar without an airplane. this is tpurbing what the human body can understand. bill: do you think he can pull it off? >> i think he can. he did an 18-mile space jump. he's got basically the pwefrs the air force and nasa on board and red bull. bill: and a lot of cameras on this. we'll watch and see how it all unfolds. thank you, corey. corey powell.

>> it will be a amazing. bill: it certainly will. martha: there is a desperate search going on for a missing little girl in colorado. her. jamie: is jessica ridge way. she disappeared on her way to school on friday. we have the latest on the investigation. be right back. it's swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth to add delicious flavor to your skillet dish in just one stir. mmm! [ female announcer ] cook, meet compliments. get recipes at flavorboost.com. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare,

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we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. bill: kid rock is on the stage. introduced by ac/dc. that was the soundtrack ironically. telling folks he believes the president's time is up and it is time for a change in washington. >> i'm very proud to say that we have had elected our first black president. all right? [applause] i'm sorry. right. i'm sorry he didn't do a better job. i really, i really wish that he would have, i do. bill: kid rock is native of michigan introducing paul ryan. he might alienate fans because of his position but stakes are too high.